Ahead the July 17 appearance of former governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello in court, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has put some African countries on high alert over alleged plan by the former governor to escape the country.
According to sources, the anti-graft agency is weighing the possibility of ensuring that the former governor appears in court on that date, following his failure to do so on several occasions.
The magazine reported that former governor Bello has become a fugitive of the law after his failure to present himself in court to face charges that he embezzled over N80 billion belonging to the Confluence State as Kogi is widely known.
Recall that the former governor, had in March this year, escaped from the EFCC allegedly with the assistance of Governor Usman Ododo, his successor in office after the agency’s operatives laid siege in his Abuja home.
The commission has however declared him wanted.
It’s widely believed that the former state helmsman is currently hiding in the state government house.
Since he narrowly made that escape, all efforts to bring him to justice have proved abortive while calls continue among not a few Nigerians that he must face the law for allegedly involving in massive financial corruption while he preside over the affairs of the state.
The EFCC is now doing everything to ensure that he’s brought to the court at all cost to face trial, according to sources in the commission who spoke on the issue.
The anti-graft commission has also positioned its men with the help of other security agencies to ensure that Bello does not escape through the country’s major land borders.
Instructively, the EFCC is also working with other security agencies to ensure that Bello is not allowed to use their borders to escape into “Europe or Asia” as the former governor is allegedly planning to escape from Nigeria and seek refuge elsewhere.
Some of the countries that have have been contacted by the EFC include, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan, Cameroon amongst others sources in the commission said.
The source said: “We are aware of a botched exit to Morocco via Cameroon. We are determined to stop him from going on exile.
“From Singapore, the EFCC Executive Chairman, Mr. Ola Olukoyede was in Tunisia where he delivered a paper at a session on illicit financial flows. Thereafter, he had a meeting with all the Heads of INTERPOL in North Africa on the intelligence on the ex-governor.
“He formally asked INTERPOL to place Bello on Red Alert in all North African countries and it was accepted.
“The watch-list has taken immediate effect. He will be arrested in any part of North Africa.
“We took this step because we are suspecting that he had been bidding time not to be available for arraignment.”
Following Bello’s disappearance, and the allegation that some prominent persons in the state were providing him refuge, the family of the late governor of the state, Prince Abubakar Audu, said in April that the former governor was being harboured by them.
The Audu family said in a statement: “The attention of Prince Abubakar Audu’s family has been drawn to spurious and ridiculous rumors and publications circulating across various social media platforms, alleging that the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello, is being harboured in our family house at Ogbonocha, Ofu Local Government Area, Kogi State. We wish to inform the public that this claim is entirely false.
“We wish to emphasize that our family house at Ogbonocha serves solely as a private residence for members of the Audu family and is not a sanctuary for any political figure, past or present.
“As custodians of our family’s heritage, we uphold the principles of honesty and integrity that Prince Abubakar Audu embodied throughout his lifetime.
“We urge the public to exercise caution and discernment when encountering such sensationalist claims, recognizing them for what they are: baseless conjecture designed to sow confusion.
“The Audu family remains committed to upholding the truth and preserving the dignity of our late patriarch’s memory.”
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